William (Bill) Ellis, PhD

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

Research History

BSc(Hons) Australian National University, Canberra

M. Env. Law Australian National University, Canberra

PhD Zoology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane

Research Interests

Like most people in the lab I was always interested in a pretty wide range of things. I started my studies by running late for school because I was interested in watching ants; this interest grew into a full-scale war on the ant colonies around the Puckapunyal region in central Victoria, culminating in the cementing of a number of nests at age 8. I learned then that ants will burrow through wet cement, after which their nest becomes impenetrable, but also becomes a veritable “fun factory” for a lad armed with a dollar’s worth of fireworks.

I've since restricted myself to non-explosive research, starting with physiology of microbats and gradually diversifying within the world of koalas, as much of a contradiction as that seems. I began by investigating endocrinology, dabbled in immunology, diced with physiology and have now stuck to spatial ecology.

My most interesting research projects are unfolding across the islands off Mackay, where I'm recording the vocalizations of koalas and matching this with fine scale movement dynamics and habitat use to understand who koalas talk to and what they say.